ists have been sedulously ingrafting her orthodox doctrines on the dangerous stock of their enthusiasm, and have drawn without the pale many of those who would have been its best defenders. By the good which this medication of their own opinions by orthodoxy has enabled them to perform, they have salved many of the sores which the red-hot weapons of their armoury had inflicted. But still the good is mixed up with a tremendous portion of evil to the people, and of danger to the church. It may be worth while then to inquire from what quarter effectual opposition to them may be expected, or a sincere reconciliation with the church eventually brought about among the most respectable of the Methodists and dissenters. On this interesting subject we cannot forbear quoting the following passage from Mr. Cunningham's pamphlet, to which we attach the greater value, because we are given to understand that the conduct he has pursued in his own parish has enabled him to verify the truth of the picture which he has drawn for the instruction of his brethren.

"Such being the actual state of the followers of Wesley and Whitefield, if it be asked, whether this once small cloud is likely to overspread the face of our hemisphere, and, by its deluge, to displace the now-established fabric of religion; the reply will vary according to the precise circumstances of the case. Where the cure is too large, or the church too small; where the parochial clergy are non-resident, or preach but a part of christianity, or preach the whole coldly; where they put off their function with their cassocks, and do not continue in the cottage the lesson they taught in the congregation; there Methodism is likely to increase. But, on the contrary, where the conveniences for public worship are secured; where the clergy are resident; where they endeavour to preach and to live as becomes the disciples of Christ; where they are the domestic friends, as well as the public lecturers, of their people; there, I do not hesitate to say, that under the Divine blessing, our peculiar advantages will ultimately prevail, and the establishment will even do more than maintain her ground. The success of the clergy, indeed, under such circumstances, is no longer a mere hypothesis. Already the church of England has experienced a great religious restoration;' already that species of cold philosophy, which had usurped the throne of scriptural doctrine, has made way for the rightful sovereign; already the lessons of the reformation echo on many of her walls. And already the consequences are felt, in the increase of our congregations, in the new respect shewn to us by the dissenters, and in the revival of the somewhat slumbering attachment of the mass of the people. Tacitus says, Haud errat populus;' and perhaps the people, in the long run, however betrayed into temporary excesses, seldom bestow their favour permanently upon the least deserving. The most fu

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rious enemies of David were the first to bring him back. Let the establishment, therefore, only more extensively substantiate her claims to the affections of the people, and they will return to their allegiance. Good men will fear to desert our hosts, when they see the pillar of the cloud' going before us.-Among the Methodist leaders especially, and even among the more thinking and orthodox dissenters, there are many individuals, who, though valuing their systems as supplementary aids to religion, believe that the cause of christianity is deeply involved in the maintenance of the establishment. Some of them are even now educating their children as ministers of the establishment; some, exhausted by divisions among themselves, begin to discover the value of that standard of appeal supplied by the formularies of the church; some, harassed by the continual struggles for ascendancy amidst the members of their congregation, begin to covet the ministerial independency secured by our ecclesiastical constitution; some, astonished by the power of revivescence recently displayed by the church, begin to suspect, at least, that the hand of God is with us; others, standing mournfully over the ruins of their ancient vigour and orthodoxy, acknowledge the comparatively fleeting nature of a religion which is not embodied in creeds and forms. Let but the devout spirit, which animates a part of the clergy, pervade the mass, and large multitudes, who have deserted her services, will once more rally round the banner of the establishment.” (P. 62.)

In conclusion, we recommend these considerations to the sound sense and sober judgment of the government, of the episcopacy, of the patrons of livings, and of all who have the power and the wish to preserve the established church and the orthodox religion of their country. We would say to them, as the late Lord Thurlow said to our gracious sovereign, "If your majesty means to have an established church, you must prefer those who can defend its tenets, and uphold its doctrines;" and we will add, who will shew by their zeal and their conduct that they are themselves practically influenced by the doctrines which they uphold. If an episcopal throne is occupied by a Pelagian or a neutral; if a prebendal stall is filled by a Socinian or a gamester; if a rectory is rioted in by a drunkard or a sportsman, to that extent is the church endangered; the sectarist triumphant; and in the same degree is a weight of responsibility incurred by those who have suffered the wasps or the drones to creep into the hive. This responsibility has hitherto, we fear, been too little considered. But the light seems gradually dawning. Such a bishop, such a prebendary, such a rector, severally constitute exceptions to the general rule; some of them very rare exceptions; and God be thanked, such pamphlets as the "Thoughts" of Dr. Maltby do not nowadays cross the threshold of a reviewer's door above once in a lustrum; and even then they come ac

companied by such an antidote, as the "Observations" of Mr. Cunningham.

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ART. IX.-Asiatic Researches; or Transactions of the Society instituted in Bengal, for inquiring into the History and Antiquities, the Arts, Sciences, and Literature of Asia. Volume the tenth. Calcutta. 4to.

THE unusual press of more interesting matter from India has thrown us a little behindhand in our notice of Indian literature; and it is with peculiar pleasure that we begin to atone for our deficiency by the present article.

Our countrymen in the East, during the last half century, have surpassed the achievements of other warriors, and attracted our admiration by their military exploits; nor are we less gratified by the contemplation of a vast empire thus won by our arms, now raised by the wisdom of our councils to a pitch of temporal prosperity and happiness rarely surpassed, and we trust and hope to a progressive state of moral improvement. But in addition to these legitimate sources of national satisfaction, we have farther and more particularly now to notice the copious stream of intellectual wealth poured into the mother-country through the channel of the Indian press; and although the most important of the literary productions of our countrymen in that quarter are not within the scope of the publication which we have now undertaken to review, we may yet safely affirm, that however auspicious may have been the commencement of the Asiatic Researches, no reasonable mind could have indulged an expectation of their attaining the eminent station on which they now stand in the estimation of the literary society of Europe.

There are few parts of the world, we believe none, in which there are so small a number of sinecures as in British India. Gentlemen of active aud available talent are selected, and very frequently on that account only, for the most important and laborious offices, which demand and occupy so much of their time, as, superadded to the enervating tendency of the climate, would seem to leave them but little literary leisure. Amidst the short intermissions thus afforded, have, nevertheless, been produced works of great magnitude and importance. We may, hereafter, call the attention of our readers to some of these works, hitherto but little noticed in this country; but shall at

present confine ourselves to the publication more immediately before us, of the tenth volume of which we shall now attempt to give some account. Presuming our readers to be acquainted with the preceding volumes, we shall indulge in no retrospect, nor anticipate farther than to state generally, that we perceive no declension in value; but gratefully recognize the same ardour of research, the same vigour of intellect, and an equal diversity of talent, which have been so conspicuous in its nine interesting precursors.

Art. I.-Remarks on the State of Agriculture in the District of Dinajpur. By W. Carey.

This article is, we presume, by that industrious missionary to whom literature is already so much indebted for his valuable researches into eastern languages, and for his Sanskrit and other grammars and vocabularies. To him also must be ascribed the principal share in the translation of the Ramayana, the first volume of which curious work has been for some time in our possession, and to which, on the arrival of a second, we propose to draw the attention of our readers.

In an article on Indian agriculture, much cannot be expected of a nature calculated to excite particular interest in this country; it is not, however, wholly devoid of it. The simplicity of the agricultural implements used in Bengal exhibit a curious contrast with the complicated machinery of an English farmyard. A plate is given of these rude utensils, and we gather from it, and its explanations, that not a head of stock (save, perhaps, draught bullocks), nor a wheeled carriage of any sort, is to be observed on a Bengal farm. A pair of oxen may be purchased for six or eight rupees (12 or 16 shillings), and a plough for about seven-pence. The sickle, though "a very useful instrument in the hands of a Hindù, would scarcely be picked up by an European labourer, if he saw it lie in the road." Earth, or mauure, is removed in a sort of sieve or net, composed of bamboo or twine, extended on a hoop of a foot and a half diameter, and suspended at each end of a yoke, resting, on the shoulders of the workman.

A very easy process for raising water is described, and represented in the plate; the machine is called jant, and it is suggested that this may be "the watering with the foot," men tioned in Deut. xi. 10. There are, however, several other, methods of raising water with the foot in use in India, and other eastern countries, where the feet are used almost as much as the hands in many of the processes of labour and art. In

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the Chinese pump, for instance, they are more so, and equally in the small Persian wheel. Where the water is raised by the last-named very useful machine from any considerable depth, oxen are necessarily used. With respect to the jànt, we would recommend its introduction into some of our Cyclopedias, or works on agriculture; for although it cannot with effect lift water more than two and a half feet, it is of such easy construction and application, and so portable, that it might, we think, be of use in England, more particularly in water meadows, and in clearing ponds or ditches; and we hope that some experimentalist will try its efficacy.

Our agricultural readers, if not much instructed, will at least be diverted at the description of reaping corn, whose roots are 10 or even 15 feet under water. In such a harvest, the absence of wheeled carriages is certainly not to be regretted. The plates in this article are particularly useful: without such assistance it is impossible, even for the best description, to convey a competent idea either of the construction or comparative utility of mechanical implements.

Art. II.-An Essay on the Sacred Isles in the West, with other Essays connected with that Work. By Captain F. Wilford. Essay V. Origin and Decline of the Christian Religion in India

This ingenious writer here continues the disquisition in which he has been several years engaged. Four essays on the same comprehensive subject have already appeared in the earlier volumes of the Transactions: this circumstance, together with the difficulty of connecting this with the preceding essays, the mis cellaneous nature of the topics treated, and the desultory manner in which they are handled and arranged, will oblige us to confine our remarks within a smaller compass than the importance of the subject may seem to require; and to be less particular than is altogether consistent with our own wishes on such a subject. We shall trust, however, to some more connected work for an opportunity of supplying this deficiency.

Without attempting any thing like an analysis of this very interesting article, we will take the liberty of saying generally, that valuable as it is in common with all the lucubrations of its learned and indefatigable author, it would, in our estimation, be much more so, if, instead of an essay combining with the au thor's own connecting comment, an inseparable and undistinguishable mixture of matter from the Puranas and other Indian and European books and manuscripts, its learned author had favoured us with a faithful and plain translation of works esteemed